How to find work in ForgeLM — the backlog, and where to start

[cemililik]

ForgeLM's issue tracker carries a large backlog from past internal reviews — much larger than the set of things a new contributor can usefully pick up. This thread is how to find the small part that is ready, and what to expect when you do.

Where to start

• first-timers-only — a handful of issues reserved for someone's very first pull request: documentation-only, one file each, no GPU needed.
• Unassigned good first issues — this query lists them. Comment on the one you want, so a maintainer can assign it and nobody duplicates the work.
• The project plan — the ForgeLM Project Plan has views by area and by size; the Small tasks view is the useful one.

What a first contribution looks like here

Most first pull requests are one of three things:

1. A documentation correction — a wrong command, a stale table, an example that does not run.
2. A regression test for a bug someone else reported.
3. A Turkish mirror update — and you do not need to write Turkish: open the pull request with the English change, say so, and a maintainer completes the mirror. See CONTRIBUTING.

What to expect

• You do not need a GPU. The unit tests and the documentation guards run on a laptop.
• Comment first, then branch from development. python3 -m pip install -e ".[dev]" followed by pytest is enough before you push; CI runs the full guard set.
• Every pull request gets a reply, with a 72-hour target for a first response. If yours has not had one, a nudge on the pull request is welcome — it is not rude.

If you are unsure whether something is worth a pull request, ask in the Q&A category first.